From the barrel

I stopped by Raphael on the way to work Friday to pick up a couple of cases of sauvignon blanc to sell by the bottle. It replaces the Lieb Pinot Blanc, which always sells well. The Raphael barely had time to chill before people started ordering it.

Winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich had packed up some samples and then gave me a tasting of the 2007 reds he has in barrels. The cabernet franc is going to be delicious. We tasted some out of new American oak, made by French coopers and one from old French oak. The fruit got so ripe that the cab franc has a richness and little of that greenness that often is what cab franc is about. Rich said his cab franc was the best from Raphael’s vineyard, but that other growers and winemakers are saying their merlot was the best. “Every vineyard’s different,” he said.